Claudia Sheinbaum is sworn in as Mexico’s first female president

By MARÍA VERZA, MEGAN JANETSKY and MARK STEVENSON

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Claudia Sheinbaum took the oath of office Tuesday as Mexico’s first female president in more than 200 years of independence, pledging to protect an expansive social safety net and other popular policies of her predecessor but facing urgent problems .

The 62-year-old scientist-turned-politician is hosting a country with a number of immediate challenges, chief among them persistently high levels of violence, a sluggish economy and the hurricane-ravaged seaside resort of Acapulco, which she plans to visit on Wednesday.

While former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office six years ago, declaring “For the good of all, the poor first,” and promising historic change from the neoliberal economic policies of his predecessors, Sheinbaum has promised continuity.

She has committed to safeguarding his legacy — increasing support for the poor and deepening the militarization of domestic security — but many Mexicans remain hopeful that she will eventually emerge from his formidable shadow.

Despite her promise of continuity, she is a very different personality.

“López Obrador was an enormously charismatic president and that charisma often allowed him to cover up political mistakes that Claudia Sheinbaum does not have the opportunity to do,” said Carlos Pérez Ricart, a political analyst at the Mexican Center for Economic Research and Education. “So where López Obrador was charismatic, Claudia Sheinbaum will have to be effective.”

Supporters gather outside Claudia Sheinbaum’s home before she is sworn in as president in Mexico City, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario)

He doesn’t give her an easy situation.

Her first trip as president will be to the flood-hit Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.

Hurricane John, which struck last week as a Category 3 hurricane and then resurfaced in the ocean and struck again as a tropical storm, brought four days of incredibly heavy rainfall that killed at least 17 people along the coast around Acapulco. Acapulco was devastated by Hurricane Otis in October 2023 and had not yet recovered from the blow when John struck.

Sheinbaum also faces intense violence in the cartel-dominated northern city of Culiacan, where factional fighting within the Sinaloa cartel broke out after drug lords Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López were captured in the United States after flying there. a small plane on July 25.

López Obrador has long tried to avoid confrontation with Mexico’s drug cartels and has openly appealed to the gangs to keep the peace among themselves, but the limitations of that strategy have become abundantly clear in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, where gun battles have raged. the streets of the city. Local authorities and even the military — which López Obrador has relied on for everything — have essentially conceded that the fighting will not end until cartel bosses decide to put an end to it.

But that’s just the latest hotspot.

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Drug-related violence is on the rise from Tijuana in the north to Chiapas in the south, forcing thousands of people to flee.

Although Sheinbaum inherits a massive budget deficit, unfinished construction projects and a rapidly growing bill for her party’s cash-out programs — all of which could collapse financial markets — perhaps her biggest looming concern is the possibility of a victory for Donald Trump in the November elections. 5 US presidential elections.

Trump has already promised to impose 100% tariffs on cars made in Mexico. While that would likely violate the current U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal, there are other things Trump could do to make Sheinbaum’s life difficult, including his promise of mass deportations.

Things were already tense with his northern neighbor after López Obrador said he was putting relations with the US embassy “on pause” following public criticism of the proposed judicial review.

First lady Jill Biden struck an optimistic tone for relations with the incoming Sheinbaum administration, saying at a reception on Monday: “Under Dr. Sheinbaum, I know we will continue to build a more prosperous, secure and democratic region – and take the steps forward in our US-Mexico Partnership.”

There are areas where Sheinbaum could try to take Mexico in a new direction. For example, she has a Ph.D. in energy engineering and discussed the need to address climate change. López Obrador built a huge new oil refinery and poured money into the state oil company. But its budget commitments do not leave it much room to maneuver.

Jennifer Piscopo, a professor of gender and politics at Royal Holloway University of London who has studied Latin America for decades, says the election of Mexico’s first female leader is important because it will show girls that they can do it too, but it can also create unrealistic expectations. .

“Women’s firsts are powerful symbols, but they do not acquire magical power,” she said. “Especially when the governance challenges are so great, expecting magical solutions overnight can also lead to major disappointments.”